Shloka 13
कर्ण और अर्जुनके हाथोंसे छूटे हुए बाण हाथी, घोड़े और मनुष्योंके शरीरोंको विदीर्ण करके उनके प्राण निकालकर तुरंत पृथ्वीमें घुस गये थे, मानो अत्यन्त लाल रंगके विशाल सर्प अपनी बिलमें जा घुसे हों ।। हतैर्मनुष्याश्वगजैश्न संख्ये शरापविद्धैश्न रथैनरिन्द्र । धनंजयस्याधिर थेश्ष मार्गणै- रगम्यरूपा वसुधा बभूव,नरेन्द्र! अर्जुन और कर्णके बाणोंद्वारा मारे गये हाथी, घोड़े एवं मनुष्योंसे तथा बाणोंसे नष्ट-भ्रष्ट होकर गिरे पड़े रथोंसे इस पृथ्वीपर चलना-फिरना असम्भव हो गया है
hatair manuṣyāśvagajaiś ca saṅkhye śarāpaviddhaiś ca rathaiḥ narendra | dhanañjayasya adhirathasya mārgaṇair agamyarūpā vasudhā babhūva, narendra ||
Śalya said: “O king, in this battle the earth has become impassable. Men, horses, and elephants lie slain, and chariots—shattered by arrows—have collapsed in heaps. The shafts loosed by Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) and by the great charioteer Karṇa pierce bodies, take away life, and then plunge straight into the ground, as if huge crimson serpents were slipping back into their burrows. Such is the dreadful consequence of unrestrained martial fury: the field itself becomes a barrier to movement, and the cost of glory is measured in lives.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral weight of war: even when fought under kṣatriya duty, its immediate fruit is devastation—life is cut down, and the very earth becomes clogged with the results. It invites reflection on how ‘victory’ is inseparable from suffering and loss.
Śalya describes the battlefield after intense archery between Arjuna and Karṇa: arrows pierce and kill men, horses, and elephants, then sink into the ground; broken chariots and corpses make the terrain impassable.